Genbukan is a branch of Ninjutsu. It was started by Hatsumi-Sensei's senior student after they parted ways in what has been described as less than cordial. Bujinkan practioners are not allowed to practice with Jinenkan and Genbukan schools per Hatsumi's wishes.

I trained at a Genbukan school for about a year. The instructor was a very good martial artist and we did a lot of full-contact fighting, but that was because it was in his background. The Genbukan system seems to be a lot more formalized than Bujinkan and I think this produces a more consistent quality in the students. I also think they tend to train harder from the other Bujinkan schools I've seen.

As far as fighting goes, both styles use a lot of standing jointlocks and strikes. I studied the Bujinkan system after I moved and no Genbukan schools were around. Both systems seem to be pretty similar with how they move. Overall I don't think standing joint locks work very well against someone really resisting and trying to hurt you. If you're going there to learn JJJ you'll probably be OK, but again I don't think the core joint locking techniques work that well which leaves you with the striking techniques. Whether the stirking works is up for you to decide. For me, I wasn't impressed because in the Bujinkan you are basically discouraged from sparring.

I'd take BJJ before I took any form of Ninjutsu knowing what I know today.

P.S. Go over to www.e-budo.com and drop a message to John Lindsey. He has been doing Genbukan for years and I think runs that site. Also ask about the instructor to make sure they are legit.

Originally posted by Jenfucius how did the guy find time to learn all of that?

Tanemura studied under takamatsu with hatsumi. Takamatsu spent his entire life studying martial arts in japan. at around 20, he went to china an began studying with masters all around the country before opening his own school at the request of local martial artists. Tanemura went on to become a police officer in japan. He used to get hassled over how old and formal the techniques he taught were until he pulled a superior out of a riot by himself and brought him to saftey. The man is a wealth of knowledge. However I find the genbukan to be to ridgid and formal which is something I find detrimental in a fight. If you are trying to learn jujutsu, find a pure jujutsu school. The X-kans are a mix of samurai traditions (ryu) encompassing much more than armored battlefield grappling, focusing on taijutsu (body method) and using everything at once.

I don't think Tanemura studied directly under Takamatsu for long. He studied under Hatsumi he also studied under Sato Kinbei who studied directly under Takamatsu. Most of his knowledge came from these two but he also studied under Kimura Masaji,
Fukumoto Yoshio, and Kobayashi Masao.

Uhhh...not to be a prick or anything, but back to my original point. Is it a good method of learning JJJ and would you consider it a good balance between stand up and ground ? Anybody have prior experience in this art ?

Look, if you want to learn ground fighting and standup fighting go to a school that teaches a system that specializes in that and nothing else. Now-a-days that means a school that teaches BJJ, Thai Boxing, or other comparable MMA skills. If you take the "Ninjutsu" route you'll learn some neat stuff, but you'll also learn a load of stuff that maybe isn't that useful. Decide what kind of fighter you want to be and don't take martial arts that lead you away from that path. From what you described I don't think Genbukan is what you want to do.